"THE ROYAL SCAM"
Introductory notes
"Kid Charlemagne"
"The Caves Of Altamira"
"Don't Take Me Alive"
"Sign In Stranger"
"The Fez"
"Green Earrings"
"Haitian Divorce"
"Everything You Did"
"The Royal Scam"
Introductory notes
To
me, this is the darkest and most unsettling of Steely albums, from the
cover on in. Previous Steely cover art ranges from kitschy ("Can't
Buy A Thrill") to cleanly expressionist ("Countdown To Ecstasy"), to realist
and realist-through-Vaseline-coated-glasses ("Pretzel Logic" and "Katy
Lied"). "The Royal Scam" shows this guy at the end of the end, doubly
defenseless--homeless on a bench and sleeping--while the transmuted skyscrapers
rear over him, ready to engulf him. They remind me of Scylla in The
Odyssey, picking off Odysseus' men one at a time from the clouds above.
And the album reminds me of Charybdis: at first you barely know you're
slowly circling its mouth, but then you find yourself spiralling faster
and faster on a headlong trajectory into the abyss. You don't know
you're sucked in until it's too late.
By the way,
Brian Sweet quotes Mr. Fagen as saying that the cover art had " 'a rather
delightful relation to one of the tunes on the album....' That coincidental
relation is almost certainly to the cave paintings referred to in 'The
Caves of Altamira.' " (RITY, p.110) Maybe, but my guess would have
been "The Royal Scam"--how about you?
"Kid Charlemagne"
Brian Sweet recounts: " 'Kid Charlemagne' is set in San Francisco and is about a drug dealer who, in Fagen's words, 'had been overtaken by society and was left standing in the road with nothing.' Becker, Fagen, and Katz variously described the main protagonist in 'Kid Charlemagne' as a maker, an artist, a chemist, and a chef: 'Someone who makes consciousness-expanding substances of the most dramatic, sensational kind no longer in vogue.' Becker said that they didn't use any particular model for the song; Fagen said he thought it was more about the age--the late sixties--and the reflections of someone who found himself in a decade where he's no longer of any use. They denied that 'Kid Charlemagne' was based on a Timothy Leary or Charles Manson type character, saying that he would probably be much less of a celebrity than those two examples. Becker claimed that there was an individual on whom the song was based, 'who hung over the song like the Sword of Damocles' but he refused to name names." (RITY, pp. 103-104)
The
liner notes on "Alive In America" offer this description: "Sixties
epitaph. Designer druggist. Power, glory. Running on
empty." What more can you say? Aw, we can always say more:
J Christman (Digest, 10/15/97):
In my mind the character in "Kid Charlemagne" is most definitely Owsley
[Stanley Owsley, the father of LSD], irrespective of anyone's attempts
(including Walter Becker's) to throw you off the trail.
Owsley's
acid biz, in part, funded the Grateful Dead in their early years.
Owsley was their original sound man, and he helped out with their rent
as well. "your low rent friends are dead." Owsley was busted
when his car ran out of gas, "is there gas in the car?" Owsley's
product was legendaryamong acid heads because it was "kitchen clean."
The reference to "white men on the streets" refers to the growth of cocaine
use and the decline in the number of people taking acid as the drug of
choice.
"Whiteman" is also an R. Crumb character, a besuited mainstream zombie
archetype.
CountZiro has commented that reading Tom Wolfe's Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, an account of the life & times of The Merry Pranksters & Ken Kesey, gives this song added dimensionality. Owsley appears in it, and the thing is crawling with "Day-Glo freaks who used to paint the face," and who did indeed evaporate eventually from the Pranksters and "join the human race," even Kesey himself. He went to Oregon to make yogurt.
cupgoddess (5/17/99):
Being a total dan devotee, my father actually emailed Stanley Owsley
to ask if he was in fact the main character of "Kid Charlemagne", probably
causing the DEA to open a file on him. The answer was something to
the effect of "I am not the main character of that little pop song".
This curt little response (in which
Owsley also critiqued the grammar
of the original email) is confirmation in my mind that he is the actual
focus of the song, and isn't very happy about it.
tom (GB, 1/12/00):
I always thought "technicolor motorhome" lyrics were "technical m.o. tow
and"
meaning
what? you ask... I reply...
everyone
stopped to stare at how incredibly well the Kid could whip up his illegal
substances. M.O. being mode of operation and the 'tow"
in the vocal phrasing I could never really quite understand but enjoyed,
thought it a slang saying of the "hip" underground
drug culture.
I was
actually quite disapppointed when I read the real lyrics as I like the
M.O. imagery, a real strung out druggie, but man can
he cut the stuff well.
The
technocolor motor home associates him in the hippie relm, as opposed to
the outsider who supplies them. So to me my little
quirky misreading in more satisfying than the original.
OMIO
(GB, 2/9/00): Since you asked.. and I'm completely unqualified
to answer, but never let that stop me..
At the 50th Anniversary Of The Discovery Of LSD Conference in SF a few
years ago, there was a great deal of discussion on that very topic..
"What Have We Wrought?!"
Hoffman was extremely concerned that way too many people were getting into
a realm they had no skills to navigate in..
And had come to the conclusion there were some very Negative, Predatory
forces involved which would prey upon them..
Kesey has gotten a bad rap for his supposed dosing of unsuspecting people..
As far as I know, The Pranksters themselves never did that to people..
Hugh Romney concoted the infamous Electric Cool Aid, but gave enough warnings
& indications to advise anyone who could Hear what the story was..
However, the Grateful Dead & Co. were notorious for doing that..
Which I think is pretty Goddam Criminal..
Kesey is fond of saying that Spirits Travel On Elixers..
The Bleak Landscape of The Un-Created is not for everyone.. Even when aware
of the door you are passing through, you might not be ready to see Your
Whole World Fall Apart & Fade Away..
To become without Ego, stripped of Self, etc. ain't easy..
And that's with the Good Stuff!
Add a bunch of strychnine, STP, & God knows what other shit, cooked
up by some borderline practioners of Black Arts trolling for Souls &
you've got a bunch of psychic disasters..
Like Haight Ashbury in The Summer Of Love.. Which is why by that time most
of the original, educated, self-disciplined types who had the "Keel" to
handle the Wind In The Sails, split for Marin & Eugene..
In short, it got way out of hand, fucked up a bunch of people, and we've
been paying the dues for that folly for over 30 years.
Kid Charlamagne is a work of utter Genius.. As The Holy Roman Empire tried
to blend the spiritual Truth realized by the original, early Christians
with the social & civil order of the Empire into an Enlightened World,
With Charles moving his Court from place to place, so that no one people
or territory could lay claim to it, so it was with those who felt that
Acid, as a path to Spiritual Enlightenment, should travel & reach as
many people as possible.. And then it degenerated into that mess of coke,
heroin, Southern Comfort, blah blah blah..
There's a big difference between getting High & just getting Loaded..
From what I've seen, that distinction is getting more & more Lost..
Which is why I Hate Parking Lots!
The Truth Does Not Require Your Belief In Order To Function..
or does it? I really don't know.. do you?
(scuffling & mumbling into Oblivion...)
Clas (GB, 6/30/00): the Kid is obsolete, times they are changing. The "drug thing" in the song is just, well.. something to hang the issue on.
Evan (Digest, 6/22/00): Diamond is maybe Hereoin and Pearl is coke or something like that?
Rocket
J (Digest, 7/12/00): What are these Steely Dan song-writing
guys, prescient psycho-hotline kids or something? They wrote these
lines years ago:
While the music played you worked by candlelight
Those San Francisco nights
You were the best in town
Just by chance you crossed the diamond with the pearl
You turned it on the world
This is dotcom genius we're talking here. This is what the big boys
at the gene labs play with when they're not importing White Cola extract.
Just don't let us go and end up King of the World.
Ahon
Paul Bienaime (GB, 7/25/00): To me, the lyrics to "Kid Charlemagne"
were a running commentary on the rampant and prevailing drug culture of
the
early '70s that was swiftly loosing it's momentum. The words 'dayglow freaks'
refers to the various addicts who were always hot to latch onto a quick
fix. Just as 'who used to paint the face' tells me that they were often
trying to conceal their additions from others, particularly their families,
the Feds, narcs and others from whom they would surely try to hustle in
support of their habits. The words 'semi-mojo' and 'kinky so-and-so'in
"Haitian Divorce" were really more of a celebration of both cultural and
racial diversity, done in improvised street language, than anything else.
As a person of African-American lineage, a Creole, with his roots deep
in his Haitian ancestry,and with as much caucasian blood in him as there
is African, I must say that I don't feel even the slightest bit offended.
No, not at all. To be sure, all of your songs are as surpassing to anything
done in rap as they ever could be. Like every one of the Steely Dan lyrics,
as well as just about every other song, this a wonderfully sobering reminder
of just how far we have all come of late. And, a place marker in our present
and steady course of our progress. Thank you for your time.
wormtom
(GB, 7/25/00): I agree that the hippy culture was loosing it's
momentum, but my read was that the "dayglow freaks" had less to do with
their fix and more to do with their tied dyed hippie manner of fashion
sense - all of a sudden you and your peace and love crowd strand out in
a world that had walked away from it. Sort of the Ken Keasey trip. As for
painting the face, I thought they were referring to actual face painting
- psychedelic fashion statements that started in 67 but were well out of
vogue for most by 72. Translation - the love ins are dead, everyone has
gone on and gotten jobs and the hippie movement lost it's momentum. It
lived on in the minds and the dead heads and such but was a leftover eyesore
for the mass population.
As for Kid C, at this time he is oblivious and is still spaced out and
making his living supplying others who have went well underground and are
no longer flamboyantly dressed hippies. Instead they are vacationers(Every
A frame) looking for a fix
next step - the disco suff a kate shun of AMerica was already in progress
Hank
Silvers (Experimental GB, 7/4/01): On my way somewhere else this
morning, I channel-surfed to the Sci-Fi Channel, saw a black-and-white
show, and stopped.
Turns out it's a Twilight Zone marathon, and the episode I stopped at is
called "The Obsolete Man." A plot synopsis is at http://www.geocities.com/john_75915/links/tzeplist/obsolete.html
and http://www.cfpeople.org/FrRay/3Sun01c.htm.
At the end, the disgraced government official is adjudged "obsolete," and
is surrounded by a chorus of people, all chanting "You are obsolete! You
are obsolete!"
Craig
(Experimental GB, 7/4/01): I concur with Hank that indeed the
Twilight Zone, not to mention Hitchcock, really seem connected on some
level with Steely Dan. They all have that weird twist of consiousness and
warped sense to them that borders on surreal and thrilling all at once.
We all know that Gaslighting Abby is based on the similar Hitchcock movie.
Don't Take Me Alive could be inspired by any Hitchcok thriller or even
Dog Day Afternoon. King of the World and Sign In Stranger could easily
be Rod Sterling classics on The Twilight Zone or Night Gallerie.
Now I am trying to think of other movies or shows that might very closely
parallel Steely Dan songs. Maybe when Becker and Fagen went back and wrote
something like Gaslighting Abby, they were actually writing about those
things that made their hearts go tick, as Gina puts it.
David (9/16/01): As to what particular drug the Kid was cooking up, the thing that gets me is his title: Charlemagne = great Charlie...! Any good reasons why it's not cocaine? On the other hand, Charlemagne was solitary ruler of one of an extensive empire, so perhaps the more literal interpretation is an undermining of Donald Fagen's gift for analogy.
Reelin'
In The Years, by Brian Sweet
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, by Tom Wolfe (1968)
Whiteman Comics, by R. Crumb (If you haven't seen the superb documentary
"Crumb," log off, go rent it, and come back when you're done.)
One
Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and Sometimes A Great Notion, by
Ken Kesey
"The Caves Of Altamira"
This song is a special fave of mine and my (then) three-year-old's.
When I was a kid, I lived a lot in my imagination, and spent a fair amount
of time in various favorite hideouts. So I identify strongly with
the first verse of this song. Then the narrator makes an association
with seeing the caves of Altamira in Spain, with their renowned cave paintings--it
sounds to me as if when he sees them, he flashes on his solitary childhood
imaginings and identifies with those of the cave painter's--whose drawings
were left "for you and me, we understood." "Nothing here but history"--ironic;
it's so much more than history--"can you see what has been done"--both
realizing the impulsion of the ancient artist who "heard the call" and
spent uncounted hours in a dark and dangerous cave to paint his/her dreams;
and feeling aghast that these private dreams are being gawked at by clueless
tourists. The "memory" that rushes over him reaches back through
his childhood, to prehistoric times, to the collective unconscious;
then he steps back "into the sun," the bleached-out reality of the present.
"The fall" may refer to the biblical fall from grace of Adam and Eve after
they tasted the apple, which echoes in the amoral and squalid life of the
underbelly of latter-day LA/Hollywood.
Brian Sweet said that "in the 1976 version of the song Becker and Fagen omitted the third verse in which the narrator reflects on his childhood adventures and returns to the caves only to find that many others have discovered what was once his own secret little world." (RITY, p. 105)
The omitted verse:
Many years have come and gone, and many miles between
Through it all I found my way by the light of what I've seen
On the road as I returned was a green and yellow sign
Sayin,' "See the way it used to be," and I took my place in line.
RubyBaby (GB, 6/4/99): Yeats wrote a poem or two about Alta Mira, being there alone with his thoughts abouthimself.
wormtom
(GB, 6/19/00):
one word song twists
Caves of Altimira
the word - fall
very clever play on words
the fall signifying the fall of man
both past (Genesis 3 in the Garden of Eden)
and the fall of the current society from balance grace etc
here the young man in enthralled with a cave full of drawings of inspired
dwellers who's simple pleasure of expression
he can relate to outside of a cruel world around him
and the irony line - "when there wasn't even any Hollywood"
a nice stab at tinsel town
yes we can dream, we can go back as a race and choose our own dreams rather
than the fabricated celluloid offerings
that flicker dimmly on a white screen
we can grasp the sketches on an old cave wall
we can get back to our primival
we can choose our own dreams and our own little worlds
we can dream
Parts Dept. (GB, 7/21/00): I happened to be listening to Caves of Altamira on the way to work today. What a great story song. If I get this right, is the lead subject lamenting the disappearance of his childhood hiding spot? Is this the place for him to get away and dream of a time long ago where ancient beings have left their mark for those like him who understand his need to get away?
Stranger (GB, 7/21/00): You may be onto something with those caves, but I doubt there's anything extraterrestrial. For instance, I can confrim Steely Dan does not believe astronauts built the Pyramids.
Dr. Mu (GB, 7/21/00): In that seed of the imagination lies the core of art itself. A little boy crawls within himself and away from the busy human world (into his own "cave"). As he does so in body as well in spirit, he arrives
"I recall when I was small
How I spent my days alone
The busy world was not for me
So I went and found my own
I would climb the garden wall
With a candle in my hand
I'd hide inside a hall of rock and sand"
in a sanctuary, a haven against the cruel nature of pre-historic life and transcribes the figures of the mastadons and other hideous beasts that constantly disturb his mind as he sorts out the chaos of the busy world.
"On the stone an ancient hand
In a faded yellow-green
Made alive a worldly wonder
Often told but never seen
Now and ever bound to labor
On the sea and in the sky
Every man and beast appeared
A friend as real as I"
The ancient paints because he must. It is in soul...perhaps not even not a choice. He can now hunt another day. There was no $$ or celebrity in art. It was...and it was LIFE. We all identify with the core of our fears and our being.
CHORUS:
"Before the fall when they wrote it on the wall
When there wasn't even any Hollywood
They heard the call
And they wrote it on the wall
For you and me we understood"
Many lears later...We now rush to an art gallery and a post-modern expressionist exhibit. The latest "in" artist renders impressions of ancient man and his environment, supposedly as a juxtaposition against the artificiality of the modern environment suppressing the beast within. It is instantly recognized as a rehash of the escapism which drove the young by and the ancient many years before...not art, but a pale imitation of the real feelings inside the true artist who creates because they must, not because it is what is expected or unexpected...another disposable fad.
"Can it be this sad design
Could be the very same
A wooly man without a face
And a beast without a name
Nothin' here but history
Can you see what has been done
Memory rush over me
Now I step into the sun"
CHORUS
A unique combination of depressing nostalgia (that's redundant, eh) and a series of guffaws of sophmoric ridicule by Walter and Donald as they stumble out of the art gallery (I can just picture them cracking up)
Ben Bizarra (GB, 7/24/00): Mu: Thanks for bringing up the "faded yellow green". In my opinion that particular color refers to the oxidation of copper. To be specific, I date the song at about 6000 years. Of course, Donald and Walter are much younger. At least 5949 years younger! So what gives?
"I would climb the garden wall
With a candle in my hand"
Not satisfied to simply exist in Eden, the boys want to find out what it's all about. They want to look over the hedge! SCIENCE! The candle is really a torch.
"I'd hide inside a hall of rock and sand"
In the winter our boys enjoyed the heat of the smelter. After all, it was the ice-age and copper ore was and is extracted from rock. Besides, inhaling concentrated arsenic fumes was a huge bonus!
"In a sanctuary, a haven against the cruel nature of pre- historic life...
You don't miss cable if you've never had it.
"and transcribes the figures of the mastadons and other hideous beasts
that constantly disturb his mind as he sorts out
the chaos of the busy world."
They didn't transcribe them. They hunted them, killed them and ate them. BURP!!!
"On the stone an ancient hand
In a faded yellow-green
Made alive a worldly wonder
Often told but never seen
Now and ever bound to labor
On the sea and in the sky
Every man and beast appeared
A friend as real as I"
Friends, unlike enemies, are predictable and can be controlled. Cave art symbolically "controlled" the beasts. Once controlled, the artist adds flourish and develops a "style". We all know how short-lived a style (fad) can be...
"The ancient paints because he must."
The ancients blew chewed up pigments out of their mouths because they had the time to do so. As they controlled their environment and stayed in one place long enough to note the cyclic behaviour of their prey, art was truly born. Art, I might add, is simply an un-rushed doodle embellished with the benefit of a full stomach.
"It is in soul...perhaps not even not a choice. He can now hunt another
day. There was no $$ or celebrity in art. It
was...and it was LIFE. We all identify with the core of our fears and our
being."
Ah, but there WAS celebrity in art. You make a picture of your friends dominating animals and they're more apt to continue doing it. Art has always been a non-verbal way of perpetuating the present. It changes when the actions of the present are no longer life-sustaining. You never see art documenting the death throes of a civilization. Art thrives in gluttony.
CHORUS:
"Before the fall when they wrote it on the wall
When there wasn't even any Hollywood
They heard the call
And they wrote it on the wall
For you and me we understood"
"Many lears later...We now rush to an art gallery and a post-modern expressionist
exhibit. The latest "in" artist renders impressions of ancient man and
his environment, supposedly as a juxtaposition against the artificiality
of the modern environment suppressing the beast within. It is instantly
recognized as a rehash of the escapism which drove the young by and the
ancient many years before...not art, but a pale imitation of the real feelings
inside the true artist who creates because they must, not because it is
what is expected or unexpected...another disposable fad."
This is much simpler than post modern expressionism. The animals we ate
were descimated. We moved on. Period.
"Can it be this sad design
Could be the very same
A wooly man without a face
And a beast without a name
Nothin' here but history
Can you see what has been done
Memory rush over me
Now I step into the sun"
CHORUS
"A unique combination of depressing nostalgia (that's redundant, eh) and
a series of guffaws of sophmoric ridicule by Walter and Donald as they
stumvle out of the art gallery (I can just picture them cracking up)"
The sad design IS the Royal Scam. I don't think the boys laughed about
it. I think they wanted you and I to understand. Just as the cave
artists had recorded their reality before they moved on to greener pastures.
Dr.
Mu (GB, 7/25/00): BB: You're only off by about 10,000 years.
The cave paintings are 11,000-19,000 years old (almost pre-Flintstones)
in Northern Spain (a suburb of Passaic).
"art thrives on gluttony"??? Art obviously can come from anywhere, but
is often associated with torment and difficulty. Notice how Sting
(just to pull someone's name out of the air) is better when he's more miserable.
Yes, clearly the great artists from Chopin to Leonardo to Van Gogh to Fagen
were fat gluttons!!;) On the other side of the coin look at the economy
last year - then the 1999 Grammy's. I rest my case.
What happened to the Mastadons and *us* moving on to greener pastures?
Well, basically... the ice age ended, and the Mastadon's simply could not
adapt to "global warming." You can actually find more bisons that Mastadons
I believe. Man was a puny nuisance with a big spear until we did
(adapt that is) - we adapt as a species to just about anything. To suggest
we were a species danger then is akin to suggesting the Eskimos could have
wiped out the whales and seals. Art continued (unless were full (I've never
done anything productive on an insulin rush - except observe and appreciate
the finer things), but the media changed and not preservable, at least
for 16,000 years. Man moved on to depend more on agriculture around the
Mediterranean and tools/drawing were a little more biodegradable. Then
came Imhotep (6000 years ago) architect, scientist, physician "the world's
first genius" and the rest is history. Look for his vault and mummy to
be discovered in the next few years near Saqqara, Egypt.
I agree for a utilitarian role as well for art. This was also true for
traditions and religious laws. For example, Kosher preparation of food
was more protective than divine. Pork as a staple results is a) trichinosis
or b) heart attack.
Blaise
(GB, 3/6/01): Yes Howard, the chords do spell "faded" in the
fade. [FADED] Interesting trivia there considering the
word appears in the lyrics as well. A faded yellow green fade, I like that.
Reelin'
In The Years, by Brian Sweet
"Steely Dan: Forward Into
The Past," about which I've commented before. I feel dirty.
"Don't Take Me Alive"
Brian Sweet
says that this song "was set in mid-Seventies America; it dealt with
Fagen and Becker's unease about the regular outbreaks of violence in Los
Angeles. Gangland shootings, wanton murders and armed sieges were
so commonplace that Becker and Fagen felt compelled to reflect it in a
song. They saw it as violence for its own sake, and in interviews
they became involved in discussions about the relative merits of life in
Los Angeles and New York.
" 'In Los
Angeles and throughout the world in general, terrorism is a way of life,
actually, for a lot of people,' said Fagen. 'The song was inspired
by a run of news items where people would barricade themselves inside an
apartment house or a saloon with an arsenal of weapons. It's about
individual madness rather than political situations.' " (RITY, p. 105)
Bart Torvik (Digest, 12/23/97):
I remember someone long ago saying that they had figured out what was going
on in "Don't Take Me Alive".... He said that the main character in the
song was not a psycho like we'd always thought, but actually a robot or
android gone berserk. At the time, I, and the rest of the Digest,
thought that this was a ridiculous interpretation. It was obviously
just a psycho killer song. But every time I hear that song, I can't
help but thinking about the so-called "android scenario." Why?
Well:
It's a book
keeper's son, because the previous generation of computers just kept the
books. The fact that the song is called "Don't take me alive" brings
to mind the questions about creating computers that actually come to life,
and what kind of life it would be. (Like Data on Star Trek!)
Then there's some business about a red light flashing, and the mechanized
hum of another world. So, I have to say, that I find this to be an
interesting interpretation of the song; and I've come to believe
that the "android scenario" was fully intended by the songwriters, though
as a subtext. The main thrust of the song is about a psycho, there's
no doubt about that. To paraphrase Donald from last year's concert:
"Nothin' like a good old psycho song from the seventies..."
The KatyDanFan (1/17/99):
To me the narrator is not a psycho at all. I saw him immediately
as someone who, in the necessary developmental task of individuation, didn't
do things in the way his father thought he should, hence, "I crossed my
old man..." From there, the consequences far outweigh the "crime."
Fearing the
judgement of father/society coming down on him for doing things
his own way, in his determination he gathers "dynamite," holds up "for
all night" if necessary, and warns people he must be so dangerous, after
all, they won't want to "take him alive." Knowing he must accept
their judgement of him as true, he concludes he surely must be of "another
world," where "no sun is shining," but also "no red lights flashing" either.
So, he will stay there for as long as he needs to, a world where the "law"
has put him, calling him "Mad Dog," telling him he all is forgiven, when
it isn't forgiveness he needs, but permission, and so ultimately there
is no way to relate to their demands for him to surrender. The evil
crowd, lies and laughter, the rage in their eyes and megaphones outside,
confirm that no one is sympathetic to him, it's far more satisfying for
them all to judge rather than understand him.
He goes on
to ask himself the question, who am I? And he admits, yes, he knows
who he is and what he's done. And that simple answer is he's an ordinary
person, a bookkeeper's son, who has no interest in "shooting" (or crossing)
anyone. How much more misunderstood could he be? Yet he will
bear the judgement of having gone out on his own in the world, and may
never be sanctioned by the only one from whom it would mean something----his
father.
golitely (3/29/99): "No red lights flashing" says to me that he has completely lost all conscience... somehow he's been pushed that far... he knows what he did was wrong, but he doesn't feel it... there was no thought in his mind that he shouldn't do it. "The mechanised humm of another world" ... I would imagine this to be what a truly mad person hears in his mind" ... he knows he's caught and he's really "lost it".
PretzelLogician (GB, 5/31/99): Fagen's father's the bookkeeper.
tom (GB, 12/13/99): I always thought DTMA's bookkeeper's son was poor preacher's son, the intent and meaning are about the same, a quiet humble father's profession contrasted to the rebellious and now wanted by the law fugative son.
Rocket J (Digest, 7/12/00): Another psychic express here; the boys wrote this one about how many years before Columbine and the rest of the school shootings? Don't Take Me Alive. This stuff's munchin' on our communal brains.
Reelin'
In The Years, by Brian Sweet
"Psycho Killer," by Talking Heads; try the live version on "Stop
Making Sense"
"Blade Runner," the movie. If you haven't seen it--well, you know
what I'm going to
say....
"Dog Day Afternoon," the movie, with Al Pacino
"High Sierra,"
(1941) with Humphrey Bogart as Roy "Mad Dog" Earl (suggested by my squeeze)
"Sign In Stranger"
According to Brian Sweet, "Fagen had been a science fiction fan since he was a kid and had once belonged to a sci-fi book club. This was reflected in 'Sign In Stranger,' a song based on an imaginary planet where criminals, gangsters and murderers were banished for their crimes. 'That's true,' Fagen said. 'Of course, it does take place on another planet. We sort of borrowed the Sin City/Pleasure Planet idea that's in a lot of science fiction novels, and made a song out of it.' " (RITY, p. 106)
This song also has one of the best misheard (or dysheard) lyrics:
"Do you have a dark spot on your pants?" And zombies again.
And another Napoleon reference: I used to think that "marengo" was
a corruption of merengue, the dance--makes sense; they're dancing--but
I SHOULD KNOW BETTER. The Battle of Marengo, June 1800, was perhaps
THE decisive battle of Napoleon's young career; it was a very weird battle,
won unexpectedly, and enabled Napoleon both to take power in France and
inspire the invention of chicken Marengo. Perhaps we should add the
recipe to St. Al's Steely recipe page. At any rate, it's another
subtly burnished Steely double entendre.... And think of the layers:
man and woman, man versus woman, dancing and warring; Napoleon made
war like art or love--this pair is dancing like making war or love.
Mike
Mullen (GB, 4/2/00): "Sign in Stranger" refers to "Mizar 5."
Am I mistaken, or is this the double star in the constellation Ursa Major?
If you call the constellation the Big Dipper - it's the star that marks
the crook in the handle.
[custodian's note: Sure enough! Though it's apparently pronounced
"MYE-zar." Check this
out
for more.]
St.
Al & Hoops!' Fandom Q & A (5/21/00): Some of the lyrics
to "Sign in Stranger" were changed as reflected on the "Alive in America"
CD. I loved the "scurvy brother" line in the original on "The Royal Scam."
Why did both of you decide to change the lyrics? Thank you very much!!
Have a great tour. Submitted By: "robin" "mr. lapage" "martindale"
Answer [from Messrs. B & F]: The lyrics were changed to advance
the plot. Not usually the function of the bridge lyrics, but what the hell.
... a little update from the 1976 Metal
Leg interview transcript: Mr. Fagen --"There are some songs
where I really don't like the lyrics, and I've changed lyrics that I don't
like from the old stuff, like 'Sign in Stranger.' "
Incidentally, the bridge lyrics added to the "AiA" version go like this:
Find your fortune on this lucky star
The chances are good
You will thrive
If you make it back alive
And, in the liner notes to "Alive In America," this song is described:
"Boom planet.... Proto-cyberpunk." As a matter of fact, remember
that this song came out in 1976, long before William Gibson hit the map
with "Neuromancer" (1984) and even before "Blade Runner" (1982, which could
be considered early cyberpunk, and as you know was a spin on Philip
Dick's "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?"). Now what did I say
about channeling the zeitgeist and foretelling the future?
Roy.Scam
(GB, 9/2/00): DRINKS TO AVOID AT THE CAFE D'ESCARGOT:
The 'What a Shame About Me': Two drinks and you're talking to a ghost.
The 'My Old School': Two drinks and you tumble into the sea.
The 'Kid Charlemagne': Two drinks and you feel like Jesus.
The 'Pretzel Logic': Two drinks and you can't remember where you got your
shoes.
The 'Gaucho': Two drinks and you ask to sleep on the floor.
The 'Parker's Band': Two drinks and you take off your shirt and try to
ride an armadillo.
The 'Hey 19': Two drinks and you can't talk at all.
The 'Don't Take Me Alive': Two drinks and you can't do anything.
The 'Countermoon': Two drinks and ... I don't want to talk about it; it's
never happened to ME before; I'm sure it's just the
alcohol.
Liu Chang (her brother) (10/23/01): 'Zombie' is an espionage term, for an agent who is declared legally dead to be able to perform tasks that have complete plausible deniability. This fits the song amazingly well: "You zombie, be born again my friend." Zombies are often given new fabricated identities. I picture a longtime agent revisiting his old haunts (maybe for the Turkish union dues that he could not collect as a legal agent) and his old contacts having to pretend that he's dead. I always pictured a hotel clerk passing over a guest registry and winking as he said, "Won't you sign in, 'stranger?'" Another line fits this quite well... "Do you have a dark spot on your past? Leave it to my man he'll fix it fast."
Reelin'
In The Years, by Brian Sweet (buy & read!)
'Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy,
the first in a series of very funny books of misheard rocklyrics
"Blade Runner," the movie, with
an offworld subtext
The
Fabulous Dandom Fandom Q & A: thanx to St. Al & Hoops!
for facilitating, and to The Artists and The Incomparable WebDrone for
their largesse
"The Fez"
Initially,
I thought this was a fetish song, along the lines of Randy Newman's "You
Can Leave Your Hat On." But the general skinny is that the fez is
a condom, making this a safe-sex song way ahead of its time.
Evelyn
"Razorgirl" (4/4/99): In Anais Nin's book of erotica short stories,
"Delta of Venus," thereos a story called "Linda" in which the protagonist
meets a man with a distinct, intoxicating perfume. It "reminded Linda
of her voyage to Fez, of the great beauty of the Arab men there.
It had a potent effect on her." (273) The odorous man indeed purchased
the perfume in Fez (which, incidentally, appears to be one of Morocco's
four Imperial Cities, described as "Jewel of North Africa", etc.)
. Linda goes home with the man, entranced by the perfume, and soon
they are having relations. The perfume puts a spedd over her;
it's the only reason she keeps coming back to him. One day he runs
out of it, and she no longer feels anything for him.
"No, I'm not gonna do it without the fez on... I wanna be your holy man"
could refer to this intoxicating perfume, which causes the frmale to 'worship'
its wearer. If the narrator of the song were not to wear the 'fez',
the frmale wouldn't fall under quite such a spell, if any at all.
*** Likewise, you mentioned "The Fez" could be a fetish song.
Well, a "fez" is a distinctive type of hat worn by members of an international
philanthropic fraternity founded in 1872 called "the Shrine", which has
a network of 'Shrine Howpitals' providing free medical care.
The "Fez" is the best-known symbol of Shriners- it is a red upside-down
flower pot shape, with a black tassel. Its emblem is a scimitar,
crescent with sphinx-head, and five-pointed star hanging down. Its
name is from the holy city of Fez, Morocco, where the hats were first manufactured.
Also called a "tarboosh", one of the earliest references to it in literature
is "Arabian Nights."
Steely Dan could be jesting of the Shriners' "holiness" - epitomized by
the "Fez", as it is used to identify members. Although the fez originates
in Morocco, chapters in North America wear it as proof of their philanthropy
and fraternity. Perhaps "The Fez" is, in a way similar to the idea
of "Bodhisattva" - Westerners skewing Eastern ways and/or modes of thought,
using a more superficial outlook or losing something of sincerity.
"The Fez" *makes* the man holy, not vice versa; thus the narrator
of the song *must* wear the "fez" to do whatever it is he wants to be holy
for.
I'm sure Steely Dan intentionally left many details out of the song, to
*make* it able to be interpreted in many ways. Without directly saying
it, they make it sound sexual, although the idea could be applied to other
actions. "The Fez" could be perfume, a condom, object fetish, etc.
- but I think it's something that makes either party involved feel the
action is more special, "holy". Kind of a security object carrying
a kind of significance. IMO, Donald doesn't need a "fez" to be MY
"holy man" !! :)
Clas (GB, 10/22/00): FEZ - got its name from the town Fés in Marocko. The red colour was ectracted from plants who grew there. The fez is/was mostly a muslim attribut.
"You
Can Keep Your Hat On," by Randy Newman, on "Sail Away"
"Green Earrings"
The liner notes for "Alive In America" offer this concise description: "Minimalist lyrics. Quartal harmony. Suave criminal. Picaresque. Power over women. Altered blues."
Brian Sweet says that in this song "a story can be gleaned about a relationship blemished by a compulsive thief who shows no remorse for stealing his partner's prized jewellery." (RITY, p. 106)
The lyric is spare and almost percussive. Interesting that this "cold,
daring" guy first remembers the earrings and then the person wearing them,
and how strange that he should say "I don't mind" instead of something
like "I don't care," except of course that "mind" rhymes with "design."
And now--from the Red Blazer (GB, 6/2/00), "Green Earrings" IN FRENCH!
Boucles Vertes
Froid, Courageux
N'ayant pas froid aux yeux
Pardonne-moi, mon ange
Je dois prendre
ce que j'ai vu
Boucles vertes
Je me souviens
Les boucles au design rare
Je me souviens
De ton regard
Je m'en fiche
Le Medaillon grec
Resplendit
Quand tu souris
Pardonne-moi, mon ange
Je deviens affame
Tel un enfant
Reelin'
In The Years, by Brian Sweet
"Haitian Divorce"
In Reelin'
In The Years, Brian Sweet gives an account of the background of this
song (pp. 100 ff.).
In short, a person working with
the duo went to Haiti to get a quickie divorce, and the experience became
the basis of "Haitian Divorce."
RubyBaby (GB, 6/4/99): In Hatian Divorce
the kid grows up to look like that Kinky guy with whom she
had the one- nighter. Then Clean
Willy chucks her again, which... reminds me of The Scarlet Letter. I know
it's subtle...
sooutrageous (4/11/00): while listening to the guitar-work at the end of this song, i'm overwhelmed with the feeling that the heartbreakingly poignant solo is actually continuing the woeful narrative of the piece. it begins as a frenetic tete-a'-tete with all the firey latin passion of a still-bleeding, sore-to-the-touch break-up but wans to a sorrowful fade as the ache of loss and love is diminished with the passing of time. to me this is a brilliant coda, a piece of songwriting and instrumental interpretation by an amazingly insightful composer accompanied by a gifted guitarist. it provides a catharsis for the collective "us" who have loved and lost by allowing us to delve into the depths of another's heartache through it's sarcastic voyeurism. i think the germans have a word for this: schadenfreude.
steviedan (GB, 6/8/00): I've always thought that Haitian Divorce was an exotic take on the tragedy of failed marriages. By turns light and dark harmonically with jazz voicings over the reggae percolation underneath. That's a sort of socio-musical connection...maybe.
SoulMonkey (GB, 6/18/00):
I was struck when listing to Haitian Divorce that the "Papa" referred to
in the refrain is not her father, but none other than Francois "Papa Doc"
Duvalier, the brutal Haitian dictator who died in 1971. (Why would your
average father know anything about a divorce from Haiti?) I envisioned
Papa Doc greeting her plane in a fashion similar to Ricardo Montalban from
Fantasy Island saying "Congratulations, this is your Haitian divorce."
[ Does that mean
that "some babies grow in a peculiar way" might refer to the equally loathsome
Baby Doc?]
Reelin'
In The Years, by Brian Sweet
"Everything You Did"
To me, this is the most disturbing song on the album. This is a guy
who has just found some graphic evidence that his girlfriend has been fooling
around with someone else (she's a "roller skater"). Furious, he begins
to demand that she tell him everything that went on; by the end of
the song he demands that she do all of what went on to him. What
he says is a catalogue of abusive cues; if you are EVER in a relationship
with someone who sounds like him, GET OUT IMMEDIATELY IF YOU VALUE YOUR
LIFE. I'M NOT KIDDING. That notwithstanding, let me be perfectly
clear on one thing: I DO NOT FOR ONE SECOND believe that the authors
are recounting their own experiences; they're just uncannily adept
at nailing the dark side. The whole album is a testament to that.
Moray Eel (GB, 6/8/98):
"Everything You Did" isn't that disturbing... is it? A guy comes
home to find his wife (significant other) with another man and requests
the details of the encounter. After hearing the particulars he becomes
sexually aroused and desires her intimacy to help relieve the um...pressure?
The fact
is many men would react violently if they caught their girlfriend/wife
in bed with another guy; this guy just wants to get some loving too.
It's ironic
that he is turned on by his lady's infidelity, but I don't think that it's
malicious.
I think this must be an example of why Rickie Lee Jones called Steely Dan's works "boy music" (RITY, p. 182). Here are a couple of females' takes which are maybe surprising:
Tomorrow's
Girl/Eviva Laughs (GB, 8/8/98): "Everything You Did" is one of
my favorite Dan songs. And, I think, one of their funniest.
IMO, "Everything" is NOT AT ALL about sexual cheating. It's about
what writers call "dramatic irony": a character in a story is completely
unaware of what is obvious to everyone in the audience. Here's a
guy who's not so much interested in the fact that he's been betrayed as
in hearing all about it. He's a voyeur, in every sense of the word;
SD undercuts even the threat to "shoot the lover down" by following it
with "ARE you gonna tell me everything you did, baby?" He's using
a threat as LEVERAGE to get what he wants: all the juicy details.
It's no accident SD ends every line that way, and the way the wording changes
slightly each time emphasizes the point. Even the neighbors aren't
immune: "You know how people talk--I wonder what they say".
And he projects his own voyeurism on them:"Turn up the Eagles:the neighbors
are listening."
The punch line of the song comes at the end when, after making it clear
to everyone except himself what a filthy mind he has, gives her a catty
parting shot: "I know your filthy mind."
Rose Darling (GB, 8/8/98): To me EYD is a song with both a wicked sense of humor and distorted mirror view of actual relationships.... The lyrics seem to me to be a tongue in cheek representation of an argument between a cuckolded one and his lover. I can picture real people having such an encounter, sarcastic bitter ramblings and all. Almost like a Dan portrait of "Married with Children" with less shmaltz.
Back
to the guys:
Doctor
Mu (GB, 8/8/98): I think that: 1) the STANDARD interpretation
would be about a guy who comes home and finds his girlfriend or wife who's
obviously finished an interlope with a lover who's just left. The
narrator is furious at first, then upon finding sex toys and other parphenalia
("traces are everywhere"), gets turned on.
Here's a couple more alternative takes:
2) This is actually a game that both he and his girlfiriend play in order
to get themselves revved up for a wild time. In other words, She
lays out clothes, bras, handcuffs all over the house and meets the narrator
at the door with deliberately smeared lipstick and mostly disrobed or in
a teddy or something provacative.
3) The narrator is actually the lover on the side and he arrives joking
that he's going to chase the husband away - and wryly implies that she
has just finished an intiamate moment with her husband (it's the line:
"i jumped out of my easy chair, it was not my own!"). Again this
could be part of a game that he or he and his lover play.
4) The last and sickest interpretation: this is a rapist who's
broken in and these we are hearing a combination of the sick things he
is both thinking and saying.
Roy.Scam (GB, 8/9/98): The lyrics seem straightforward to me: The classic psychiatric male phases of sexual betrayal acknowledgement: 1) anger, 2) blame, 3) revenge, 4) ego insecurity, 5) the desire to be saturated with details, and 6) the standard male closure mechanism: "Let's have sex."
Clas (GB, 8/9/98): Sure, the guy is a "hanrej" (cuckold). I've always thought that this song is one of the funniest.
Bill J. (4/16/99):
Okay, the way I see it, the fella in the song is finding out about
his girlfriend's past lover. An old boyfriend he was unaware she
had dated. Possibly an acquaintance of his, because he seems personally
pissed that no one has told him of this before. And the thought of
his girl with this ex makes the current boyfriend sick. Almost like
"Hell, if I'd had known you had dated him in the past, I NEVER would have
gotten involved with YOU!" And he can't resist the temptation, as
many folks can't, to delve in to a past relationship with his current lover.
He doesn't wanna know, but he has to know. "I think you'd better
tell me everything you did, baby". Like, "okay, how far did you go
with him, etc."
His
violent remarks in the opening of the song are typical of a guy's first
reaction to finding out something of this nature, and are not literal.
And he's looking around thinking all these things in their home might be
attached to this ex: "Traces are everywhere". Also the line
about "I jumped outta my easy chair, it was not my own" to me may be a
chair she got from her ex, and he's like "well, I wouldn't have sat in
it if I'd known you got it from HIM". And as she's explaining this
past situation, he's finding out things about her that he never knew: "I
never knew you were a roller skater?". He then notices they are arguing
loudly, so turn up the music to swallow up our voices. Also "You
know how people talk, I wonder what they say" is maybe him reflecting on
everyone else knowing about this past fling but him, possibly wondering
how his circle of friends has perceived this current relationship in light
of this other one. Has he looked like a fool this whole time?
An!d "You never came to me, when you were so inclined. I know where Baby's
at; I know your filthy mind." is his regret that she didn't approach him
instead of this ex. Kinda like "you know NOW that I can please you
and we're a great match. Too bad you didn't try back then."
Who
really knows, but a great song nonetheless!
fezo (GB, 7/31/99): In that song, he does such a lousy job of playing the role of a domestic abuser I never found the threats in that song believable. He sings like such a paper tiger.
There is one funny thing about this song: the line, "Turn up the
Eagles/ The neighbors are listening." Brian
Sweet comments that "far from being seen as a put-down, many people (The
Eagles included) regarded it as a compliment.... Within a few months of
hearing 'Everything You Did,' Don Henley and Glenn Frey returned the 'compliment'
and included a line in 'Hotel California' to acknowledge their own namecheck
and send a message back to Steely Dan. 'We liked the way they would
say anything (in a song),' Glenn Frey explained. 'That's why we used
the words "They stab it with their steely knives/But they just can't kill
the beast." ' " (RITY, p. 109)
Chief DanJHawk (11/18/ 99): I must admit that on first hearing, I thought that this was about a cuckold learning that his lady had just cheated him and he wanted recompense. However, I believe that I read somewhere that it is a cold reference to their record company, Asylum and to their management. And although the line "Turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening," may indeed be a sort of off-hand compliment to that band, if you look back at the albums you will see that the Eagles also were under contract to Asylum records.
Steve2000 (alt.music.steely-dan,
1/15/00): In 1975-6 the Eagles were probably America's biggest band.
Steely Dan was America's best.
Co-incidentally
they had the same manager at the time- Irving Azoff, who has said his office
staff listened to Steely Dan while going about the
bigger business of managing
the huge hit record machine/top concert draw known as the Eagles. Doubt
this had anything to do with the
cross referencing lyrics, I
just always thought it was kinda funny, kinda telling.
The first
lyrical 'shot' was fired when.. Don and Walt dropped their subtle 'put
down' line, insinuating the Eagles were the pop group a typical
suburban middle class young
couple would have on for background music in their nice (tract?) home..as
they argued (ever more loudly)
about her infidelity. Thus "Turn
up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening..." in 'Everything You Did.'
The Eagles,
per Azoff's policy/powertrip, 'didn't give interviews' during their peak.
When they finally did, near the end of their 70's run or maybe
individually after the breakup,
Henley or Frey specifically mentioned laboring over the lyric "They stab
it with their Steely Knives, but they just
can't kill the beast" in 'Hotel
California' specifically as a shot back at Steely Dan....
Steely Dan's
so simple seeming 'Eagles'line is brilliant. It speaks volumes about the
entire subject, setting mood, making a societal/cultural
statement etc. The classic cuckolded
and now jealous husband scenario is brought very vividly and boldly to
life-and given the Steely twist-in
"Everything You Did."
Razor Boy (GB, 4/17/00): ... about the lyrics - "turn up the Eagles the neighbors are listening" and "they stab it with their Steely knife".... Sure, Hotel California is one of the most recognized songs of all time, but unless you are in the know about the Steely reference, it probably goes unnoticed in the general public. In EveryThing You Did however, the reference is very direct. There is no question about who they are speaking of. The timelessness is also greater, I believe. In reading the lyrics one can almost see the confrontation happening, the man walking into the house, the woman running from the bedroom to stop him. He paces back and forth while grilling her about the details, loudly and probably wasted, considering the times. He just keeps going looking for answers and sure to get none. Sorry, I got a little too into it there, but you get the picture, a perfect example of the era, IMHO.
|||||||| (Rumblestrip) (GB, 7/11/01): This may be way off base but the "It" in ''I jump out of my easy chair/It was not my own'' may be analogous to the stain on Lewinsky's dress... Ewwww... I know, I know, but it makes sense given the line "Traces are everywhere/In our happy home"...
wormtom
(GB, 7/12/01): as for the "you were a rollerskater" line
I recall mentioning this sometime last year
Picture Don and Walt from NY transposed to the late 70's California Venice
Beach type scene. Not like today where rollerblades are prevalent everywhere.
Certainly they were in for a shock cultural difference. The rollerskater
term is loosely applied to convey a sense of underaged, whimsical, aloof
stereotypical california girl.
No I'm not condoning this attitude but you get the idea
The attraction is pure physical, the "I never knew you" refering to their
relationship never getting deep on the mental end. The Hey 19 scenerio.
The roller skater line an insult, your oneof those types. Then again the
protagonist is only in it for the action and his wierd sense of jeolousy
and eager curiosity are at odds. HE's offended by his lovers infidelity,
but he's more concerned with what he's missing out on than anything else.
"You gonna show me later"
It's a
sick addiction to be sure
anyone notice underaged rollerskater show up along with pink flamingo and
deer lawn ornaments in the TaN spread
Cousin Janine is a bit refined in contrast - she waxes skiis
Notice the rollerskater analogy also shows up in Hey Nineteen
and if Everything You Did's easy chair scenerio is Lewinskyesque
certainly "Skate a little lower now" has similiar leanings
the Cuervo GOld, the fine Columbian and don't even bother taking off your
skates
In another astonishing feat of prescience,
in this song the Dan prefigured the roller-skating girl in "Boogie Nights."
Or was that "Boogie Night By Nights"?
lp (GB,
7/12/01): at the risk of being called snobby, i will take the leap:
picture poor white trash in trailer circa 1972, guy in a ripped and dirty/greasy
tank undershirt with a boxing game on the tube, no shave in weeks, holding
his can of bud sitting in a brown and orange plaid wool chair, with an
ottomon held together with duct tape where his holey socked foot rests
upon, clutching in the other hand a bet sheet for the area race track,
smelly cigar (not a cuban folks) hanging out a smelly mouth slobberly belching
out "now you gonna tell me everything you did baby" to a woman with a red
and white polka dot blouse buttoned down through her cleavage, tied up
at the waist (she ain't marrianne, no), tight denim shorts cut off from
a pair of pants, over-dyed blonde hair, gum cracking, nails in constant
check status, dreamily not paying attention to the jealous but oddly turned
on outrage of her husband as she is remembering the night before with a
local garage mechanic on the hood of a 1972 Chevy in his garage replete
with a lot of wine coolers and possibly a bottle of jack daniels and bob
seeger songs (futuristic i suppose, song is too early for bob cliches)
blaring from a radio set on top of a red toolbox and a tool chick poster
on the wall beaming down on all....another encounter she thinks about as
she strokes her neck not listening to her husband's words was at the trailer,
but that's a story for another day....
Schwinnnnnnnnn (GB, 7/13/01): I see two images simultaneously. A man exposing his indiscretions in the light of his woman's infidelity. If only he'd fessed up before. Women are more honest and he can't bear it. Forget the trailer-trash image. This twister hits all income and education groups with no regard for caste. Kind of like measels. Lost love is love lost and Don Henley can't quell the rumours.
Reelin'
In The Years, by Brian Sweet
"Hotel California," on the eponymous
album by the Eagles
"The Royal Scam"
Brian Sweet
relates: "Ostensibly, 'The Royal Scam' is about Puerto Rican immigrants
coming to New York with the expectation of a better life and eventually
discovering that it was nothing like they'd been led to believe, especially
for Latin Americans with little or no money and poor English.
"In an interview
with Steve Clarke of NME [New Musical Express] Becker and
Fagen were in their element again when it came to discussing--or refusing
to discuss--their lyrics, particularly of the title cut. A measure
of the fun and revelry they enjoyed can be gauged by comparing Becker's
responses to Clarke's questions. When he was asked what 'The Royal
Scam' was about, Becker set the tone for the conversation when he replied:
'About four and a half minutes'....
"Turning
serious for a moment, Becker admitted that Puerto Rico and New York City
both featured in the lyric, then seemed to regret his honesty and began
to argue that divulging what the song actually meant would be doing the
song a disservice and would be 'lending credence to the notion that in
order to enjoy a song, you have to know exactly what it means. Or
that it does mean exactly one thing. And it doesn't really.
None of these things are true.' Almost in the same breath Becker
denied... 'that Puerto Rican nonsense that someone over here (the UK) invented'
and complained that the speculation was getting out of hand.
"When Michael
Watts interviewed them for Melody Maker and asked them to confirm
this Puerto Rican theory, Fagen's response was almost as if he was disappointed
that their lyrical puzzle had been solved: 'Because the interpretation
is so accurate, I wouldn't even want to comment further.'
"Fagen maintained
that Dan fans could enjoy the song on many different levels and that that
was the biggest part of the fun anyway. As with the word pretzel,
scam wasn't an everyday word in England and Fagen was occasionally required
to explain its meaning.
" 'Particularly
because that song does have a topical aspect and because of that it's dangerous
to give specifics and it is an allegory and it is written in rather a Biblical
argot, I can tell you that,' Fagen said. 'The song does have rather
a poetic way of expressing what we wanted to express. I'm very fond
of that lyric.' " (RITY, pp. 107-108)
I also have always heard this as a neo-"West Side Story:" "the city
of Saint John" as San Juan, capital of Puerto Rico (so named by Christopher
Columbus on his second voyage to the New World, after John the Baptist).
The immigrants encounter racism and hard times at the hands of the ruling
white culture ("an angry race of fallen kings"). The great line,
"Every patron saint hung on the wall shared the room with twenty sinners"
would refer to the miserably crowded housing conditions poor immigrants
often face. Then, out of desperation, the Borinqueno gets
into drugs--"By the blackened wall he does it all/ He thinks he's died
and gone to heaven"--and becomes an indentured servant to a drug dealer,
or crime lord, and writes proudly home about his newfound wealth.
So, for a refugee from poverty with a vision of the City on the Hill, El
Dorado del norte, the truth is a Royal Scam.
phil (GB, 5/24/99): I had a nice E-Mail back from Pete Fogel (the one and only) confirming that St Johns is actually San Juan in Pueto Rico.
tom
(GB,
2/23/00): I absolutely love the portion of the song Royal Scam where
Donald sings "see the glory.." then wham the background singers do that
huge overwhelming almost Messiah like rave up accompanyment.
Then the sarcastic twist "... of the Royal Scam" with great phrasing by
our faithful narrator.
It's such a contrast - moving musical nirvana over a lyric line that lays
waste to the religious hip hop crash see (sorry, hypocracy for those without
the wormbrained trans later)of the immigrants "welcome to americana" promising
journey turned to cold reality
wormtom
again
(GB, 6/7/00): The true genius that is Don and Walt has moments where
the subtlest of musical gestures reinforces the lyrical commentary
one fine example
the Royal Scam
this is perhaps subtle, but indeed intended
what am I pontificating on?
simple
the use of a strongly emphasized drum beat on the 1st and 3rd beat in the
song to exemplify the intense repression of the land of plenty to the tropical
immigrants
at the start of each stanza those hard beats convey this societal repression,
they are loosened up in the lyrics and slammed hard again att the end of
each phrase
this was intentional, and if only on a subliminal level
it sincerely works
Roy.Scam (GB, 6/7/00): I like the varying drumbeat intensity in "Royal Scam"; it definitely is intentional and adds drama, but I would disagree that it's a political statement. (This isn't the Dresden Symphony.) But, if, indeed, this percussionistic nuance symbolizes societal repression, is it symbolizing the repression in NYC or in Puerto Rico? Remember, the instruments start way before the lyrics, so presumably, they're still in San Juan when this protestant drumming begins. This could re-open the argument between the ladies and the guys in the song "America" from West Side Story.
Edd
(GB,
6/7/00): "the use of a strongly emphasized drum beat on the 1st and
3rd beat in the song to exemplify the intense repression..."
And what about that F chord? Oh, the humanity!!!
Mr.
LaPage (GB, 6/20/00): "By the blackened wall he does it
all
he thinks he's died and gone to heaven."
refers to any number of 'spike houses' that were so prevelant in the Bronx
and Spanish Harlem throughout the seventies. These gutted and abandoned
buildings are now generally referred to as 'crack houses' in many urban
neighborhoods.
This particular narrative refers to one of Royal Scams' 'fallen kings'
who's just done a 'smoker,' a mainline shot of heroin while he's propped
up against a rutted, smoke stained wall within the abyssmally depressing
depths of one of the 'dark city's' lonely drug houses. The euphoric
feeling that is enjoined by heroin users is ironically the closest this
displaced and thoroughly scammed soul will ever get to heaven on this earth.
New York's not Canaan, it's certainly not the land flowing with milk and
honey. There are no good-jobs-aplenty here. The living is not spacious
and plush.
His grandfather, who incidently was the only member of the family from
the homeland who could read english, used to read them letters sent by
aunts, uncles, cousins and such about the 'sweet life' in the new land.
They buy it! They leave the tropical splendour of their island home in
their 'boats of iron' for the cold, harsh streets and tenements of Uptown
Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Bronx.
Their life on the island may not be glorious, but it is home. It is natural.
It has the feel of family, safety, belonging. The family has perpetrated
this lie on them. That is the glaring travesty of this con.
This is the Royal Scam as I see it....
... in many of the drug houses of the wintery world, they build little sterno-can fires to keep warm during the long cold nights of the soul. These actions could indeed be the cause of the blackened wall they speak of.
"How they are paid in gold
just to babble in the back room all night
and waste their time"
refers to the content of the letter that the 'old man back home' read to
his people. It is the crux of the scam. Those that have made the voyage
on 'the rising tide' to New York City' send letters telling those remaining
in San Juan that life here is indeed 'sweet.' As a matter of fact, things
are so incredibly cushy here that 'we are paid in gold just........" Lazyness
and waste are rewarded here!
Read the lyric, you'll see how this narrative flows.
Bob (I Am Guestbook, Blue, 7/17/01): I've always seen the title cut from "The Royal Scam" as being sorta like an epic movie, not unlike a parrallel in mood to Cecil B Demille's "ten Commandments" when Moses leads his people from Egypt. In this case, the Puerto Ricans get led to a phony promised land. So I think the whole song reads like a grand, panoramic epic and the end does plod out, it's sorta the closing scene, panning out from New York City, back out into the ocean. Bette Midler? No way...yeah, the backing vocals are rather annoying but that seems to be intentional, sorta to augment the chaos and cynicism of the broken dreams of coming to America. It's like the anthesis of Neil Diamond's later hit, "America." What if Ron and Nancy had D + W come and perform Royal Scam at the 1986 re-unveiling of the Statue of Liberty instead of Neil and "America"??? Now there would be irony for you on so many levels.
Jungle
Jim
(12/21/01): In the title song Royal Scam someone refers to
the line "an angry race of fallen kings" as the ruling white culture.
I disagree. The complete line is "they learn to fear an angry race
of fallen kings, their dark companions. This seems to be refering
to black people who the Puerto Ricans are now living with. They may
have been kings in Africa but when the slave traders rounded them up they
were no different than anyone else. The Puerto Ricans, being the
newest arrivals are now a step below the blacks, who were
already
there, on the social ladder.
The overall theme of the song seems to be bigger than just the Puerto Ricans.
I feel that it's a human trait to not want to admit that you've made a
mistake when others have warned you. I can imagine an Irishman who
had immigrated here writing the same kind of letter back to his family
who warned him not to leave.
This is one of my favorite Dan songs.
Reelin'
In The Years, by Brian Sweet
"El
Norte," a fine movie about the Latino immigrant experience, from a Guatemalan
perspective
"West Side Story," still wonderful after all these years; see it
tonight, tonight
